The 10 best movies of 2024 | members only

_CONCLAVE _ It’s not an easy feat to make the Vatican’s changing of the guard into a taut, intelligent drama that rivals the intrigue of TV’s _Succession_. Infighting, secret offspring and

sinful shenanigans of all sorts are revealed among cardinals in stunning red robes. Led by the brilliant Ralph Fiennes, 61, with John Lithgow, 79, and Stanley Tucci, 64, in strong support,

this astute drama is a must-watch papal battle royale. [embedded content] _GLADIATOR II_ Sir Ridley Scott, 87, has done it again! He’s returned to the Roman Colosseum in a bloody sequel to

his 2001 Academy Award winner for best picture with a new starry, sweaty cast led by Paul Mescal as the gladiatorial hero. Pedro Pascal flexes his muscles as a Roman general alongside the

scene-stealing, ignoble noble Denzel Washington, 69. Bring on the over-the-top battles to the death against hungry sharks and raging rhinos — this is Hollywood spectacle at its best.

[embedded content] _HERETIC_ My arthouse crush, the romcom king of Notting Hill, Hugh Grant, 64, plays a very, very bad homeowner. In _Heretic_, Grant’s squirrely theologian invites two

tasty young Mormon missionaries into his house on a dark and stormy night. As the trio debate religious dogma, he’s a smiling spider leading them like flickery flies into his sticky web in

an unexpectedly scary, smart and shocking thriller that proves Grant to be as delightful a villain as he is a romantic lead.  [embedded content] _NOSFERATU_ Just when you thought the

heyday of Dracula movies had come and gone, Robert Eggers (_The Witch_) puts his own visionary stamp on the Transylvanian bloodsucker. The seductive, visually stunning and swiftly paced film

overflows with vivid characters: undead Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgard, who played the also-scary Pennywise in Stephen King’s _It_), ethereal beauty Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp, Johnny’s

daughter) and her husband (Nicholas Hoult), who traipses into the Count’s castle. Also on hand is Willem Dafoe, 69, as a daring vampire hunter, in contrast to his famous portrayal of the

original Orlok, actor Max Schreck in F.W. Murnau's 1922 _Nosferatu_, in the 2000 _Shadow of the Vampire_.